Stolen vote: The Hindu Editorial on a sledgehammer blow to democracy in France

Emmanuel Macron, France’s centrist President, called a snap parliamentary election in June after the country’s far-right National Rally (RN) finished first in the European elections. Mr. Macron wanted a fresh national mandate against the far right. But in the elections, held in two rounds in June and July, no party won a majority (289 seats) with the leftist New Popular Front (NFP) emerging as the biggest bloc, with 182 seats. Mr. Macron’s Ensemble won 168 seats and the RN finished third with 143 seats. The NFP immediately staked claim to form the next government and even picked a prime ministerial candidate. But after two months of a political deadlock, Mr. Macron, last week, picked Michel Barnier, a veteran from the conservative Republican party, which finished fourth in the election with 46 seats, as the new Prime Minister. In effect, Mr. Macron called the snap election to defeat the far right, saw the victory of the left-wing bloc, but appointed a conservative as the Prime Minister. His decision has angered many French voters, with tens of thousands of them pouring into the streets on Saturday to protest against the “stolen vote”. The NFP, especially its leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has slammed Mr. Macron’s “betrayal” of the public mandate.

Mr. Macron’s rationale was that he chose “institutional stability” as most other political blocs were opposed to a leftist forming the government. In the current arrangement, Mr. Barnier would seek to form a minority government with support from Mr. Macron’s party and indirect support (through abstention) from the RN. So, if Mr. Macron called the snap elections to defeat the far-right RN, his pick for the post of the Prime Minister would be dependent on the far right’s mercy to stay in power and push legislation through Parliament. Mr. Macron wants a leader who can form “a unity government to serve the French people”, and Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader, wants a Prime Minister “who works for RN voters”. Mr. Barnier, 73, has served in several conservative cabinets and was the EU’s main Brexit negotiator from 2016-21. His job is to form a government that would take Mr. Macron’s agenda forward without irking the far right. Whether he would succeed or not, Mr. Macron’s move itself is a sledgehammer blow to democracy in France. His impulsive decisions to push the country into elections and then ignore the spirit of the people’s mandate are not typical of leaders of mature democracies. By rejecting the winner of the election and picking a Prime Minister who is acceptable for the far right, Mr. Macron is making a mockery of the people’s choice and also mainstreaming the far right with neo-Nazi roots. He has made a big mistake.